Jagoe brothers got early introduction to homebuilding industry

The family room is shown in the "Ozark" model home in The Orchard subdivision off Christ Road in Evansville. Jagoe Homes is the exclusive builder of the subdivision being developed by Dan Buck.

2012 Jason Clark

As early as their preteen years, brothers Bill and Scott Jagoe already were involved in a hands-on fashion in the homebuilding industry. They helped their father, William R. Jagoe III, with work at job sites of his Owensboro, Ky.-based Jagoe Homes and Construction Co. Inc.

"We picked up building material scraps, did framing, trimming and other carpentry work, put in foundations, painted and did other general maintenance," Scott Jagoe said.

By the time he was 15 and Bill was 18, they built their first homes together — in 1979.

Since 1958, when their father founded his company, more than 8,000 Jagoe homes have been built in Southern Indiana and Western Kentucky on both scattered sites and in subdivisions.

Scott estimated around 5,000 of the homes have been built in some 60 subdivisions by Jagoe Homes Inc., a company the two brothers started in 1985.

Their Jagoe-designed and built homes are located in dozens of communities, from Evansville, Boonville, Haubstadt, Oakland City, Princeton, Newburgh, Reo and Chandler in Indiana to Owensboro, Henderson, Bowling Green, Louisville, Morganfield, Sacramento, Hawesville, Fordsville, Shelbyville and La Grange in Kentucky.

Last year, Jagoe Homes Inc. built 215 homes, and the company is on track to hit around 220 homes this year. The most it ever built in one year was 368 seven years ago.

The company is the exclusive builder in The Orchard, a subdivision off Christ Road and North Kentucky Avenue on Evansville's North Side, which is under development by Dan Buck.

The Jagoe brothers seem to never run out of design ideas or locations for homes.

They credit their keen eye for site locations and their visits to newly built homes across the nation for collecting fresh ideas.

"We talk about potential properties and opportunities sometimes one year in advance," Scott Jagoe said.

Before their father got into the homebuilding industry, Scott and Bill Jagoe's grandfather Carlos Jagoe built homes and owned and operated Daviess County Planing Mill in Kentucky.

Earlier, a great-grandfather, Benjamin Jagoe, was a pioneer logger in Muhlenberg County, Ky.

Besides the actual construction, the brothers and their associates also work with customers through the design and selection processes and the financing and closing.

The company provides a homebuyer's warranty with its homes and a service department to aid new homeowners.

Scott Jagoe said the service department for homeowners after they move in also helps the company when going back to their trade partners with facts about an underperforming product in a Jagoe home or about a product that exceeds expectations.

"Our trade partners are committed to making things right with homes that might need an adjustment after the owner is moved in," Scott Jagoe said.

Scott Jagoe, 48, and Bill Jagoe, 51, attribute their success largely to smooth relationships, which they said they have with the company's building trades partners and the homeowners.

This spring, Jagoe Homes was recognized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency with an Energy Star Leadership Award for the homebuilder's third consecutive year.

Other honors it has received include a National Customer Satisfaction Award from Builder Partnerships.